Cyclone Chido Hits France’s Mayotte Archipelago, Killing At Least 14

Paris:

At least 14 people were ended in Mayotte when a fierce cyclone battered the French Indian Ocean territory, authorities shelp Sunday, with officials alerting it will get days to comprehend the filled toll.

Rescue laborers and supplies are being rushed in by air and sea, but their efforts are probable to be impedeed by harm to airports and electricity distribution in a territory where even spotless drinking water was already subject to chronic stupidinutiveages.

The toll of 14 was counted in a provisional catalog compiled by authorities, a security source telderly AFP.

Nine people were gravely wounded and battling for their lives in hospital, shelp Ambdilwahedou Soumaila, mayor of Mayotte’s capital Mamoudzou, while 246 more were gravely injured.

“The hospital is hit, the schools are hit. Houses are tohighy deimmenseated,” he shelp, holding that the hurricane “spared noskinnyg”.

Mayotte’s 320,000 livents were ordered into lockdown as cyclone Chido stupid down on the islands around 500 kilometres (310 miles) east of Mozambique.

Its gusts of at least 226 kilometres per hour had “finishly razeed” the territory’s many shantytowns, acting Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau shelp folloprosperg a crisis greeting in Paris procrastinateed Saturday.

Electricity poles were hurled to the ground, trees uprooted and sheet-metal roofs and walls torn off improvised arranges inhabited by at least one-third of the population.

“It will get cut offal days” to set up the filled death toll, but “we dread that it is weighty”, Retailleau shelp, holding that the Muskinny custom of burial wiskinny a day of a death could complicate the count.

Inestablishation from the locked-down population, in shock and hugely cut off from water and electricity supplies, is catalogless to filter out, a source comprehendn with the recovery effort telderly AFP.

One local livent, Ibrahim, telderly AFP of “apocalyptic scenes” as he made his way thcimpolite the main island, having to evident blocked roads for himself.

“Even the hugest companies have suffered harm,” he holded.

Scramble For Supplies

Retailleau will travel to Mayotte on Monday, his office shelp, alengthyside 160 selderlyiers and firefighters to reinforce the 110 already deployed to the islands from mainland France ahead of the storm.

Medical personnel and supplyment were being hand overed from Sunday by air and sea, shelp the prefecture in La Reunion, another French Indian Ocean territory some 1,400 kilometres away on the other side of Madagascar.

Pope Francis, visiting French Mediterranean island Corsica on Sunday, inspired people to pray for Mayotte livents.

“Everyskinnyg has been swept away, everyskinnyg is razed,” shelp Mounira, a woman whose house was razeed in the Kaweni dicut offe in Mamoudzou’s east — France’s hugest shantytown.

More than 15,000 homes are without electricity, acting Environment Minister Agnes-Pannier Runacher has shelp, while telephone access is harshly restricted even for materializency calls.

Acting Transport Minister Francois Durovray wrote on X that the Pamandzi airport on Petite-Terre, the petiteer of Mayotte’s two meaningful islands, had “suffered meaningful harm”.

Storm Hits Mozambique

Just northwest of Mayotte, the Comoros islands, some of which had been on red attentive since Friday, were also hit, but suffered only inmeaningful harm.

Cyclone Chido procrastinateedr slammed into Mozambique timely Sunday, conveying gale-force prosperds and weighty rain when it made landdescend around 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of the northern city of Pemba, weather services shelp.

“The cyclone is already shapeing Pemba with a very strong intensity. We were watching the situation but there is no communication with Pemba since 7:00 am (0500 GMT),” National Institute of Meteorology straightforwardor Aderito Aramuge telderly AFP.

UNICEF shelp it was on the ground to help the people impacted by the storm, which had already caused some harm.

“Many homes, schools and health facilities have been partiassociate or finishly razeed and we are laboring seally with rulement to promise continuity of essential modest services,” it shelp in a statement.

Cyclone Chido is the procrastinateedst in a string of storms worldexpansive to be fuelled by climate alter, according to experts.

The “exceptional” cyclone was super-accused by particularly hot Indian Ocean waters, meteorologist Francois Gourand of France’s Meteo France weather service telderly AFP.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) shelp Friday it was analogous in strength to cyclones Gombe in 2022 and Freddy in 2023, which ended more than 60 people and at least 86 in Mozambique admireively.

It alerted that some 1.7 million people were in danger, and shelp the remnants of the cyclone could also dump “meaningful raindescend” on neighbouring Malawi thcimpolite Monday, potentiassociate triggering flash floods.

Zimbabwe and Zambia were also awaited to see weighty rains, it holded.

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